“Beyond her high intellect and her ability to excel in whatever she chose to pursue, she had the most amazing personality,” said Colin Peek, a close friend. “She just had an elegance about her.”

Harrison was days away from graduation at the University of Alabama, where she studied economics. Her family confirmed her death Thursday — after traveling to Tuscaloosa to search for her — and word of the tragedy spread quickly in both Alabama and Dallas.

“She was wonderful,” said Betsy Hoag, the mother of one of Harrison’s good friends at the Ursuline Academy of Dallas. “It’s going to very difficult for those left behind to fill that void.”

Harrison grew up in Dallas, the daughter of Dave and Darlene Harrison. She attended Christ the King Elementary School and then Ursuline, the Catholic girls’ high school in North Dallas, graduating in 2007. She excelled in the classroom and played lacrosse and volleyball. Friends described her as “joyful,” “vivacious” and “determined.”

“You knew this girl was going somewhere,” Hoag said.

Regina Morris, Ursuline’s alumnae director, recalled when her daughter was paired with Harrison through a school mentoring program. Harrison went well beyond the program’s requirements, taking the younger girl shopping and keeping up with her activities outside of school.

“She took it to another level,” Morris said.

Harrison was just as involved at Alabama, where she was an honor student and active in the Phi Mu sorority.

Friends said she was “ambitious” and “incredibly driven.” Harrison often talked about her goal of becoming a lawyer and was looking forward to a prestigious internship this summer in Washington, D.C.

“She was great at arguing,” said Jake Vane, another friend at Alabama. “And she almost always won.”

Harrison loved to have fun, and she made friends easily.

“You felt at ease being yourself around her because you knew she was being herself 100 percent,” said Peek, a former Alabama football player.

Harrison was with her boyfriend and two other friends as the massive storm approached Tuscaloosa on Wednesday. Her uncle, Marion Perret, told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that the group took shelter in a closet in her apartment, but that the tornado made a direct hit.

Miraculously, her friends survived.

“The house doesn’t exist anymore,” Perret told WFAA-TV. “It was completely removed from its foundation, and it was basically like a deck of cards scattered all throughout a field.”